


Celebrations and Sacrifices

by Sehin



Series: November 2020 One-Shots [22]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Casualties of War, Celebrations, Easter Eggs, Mentioned Carlist Rieekan, Mentioned Ciena Ree, Mentioned Inferno Squad, Mentioned Mon Mothma, Mentioned Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Multi, Not Beta Read, Post-Battle of Endor (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Talking about Lost Ones, lots of easter eggs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27667637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sehin/pseuds/Sehin
Summary: The battle was over and now the celebrations were going on.Their hosts, the Ewoks of the Bright Tree tribe, were quite into it and around them were many rebel soldiers, pilots and officers who travelled down to the Forest Moon of Endor following the destruction of the second Death Star and the retreat of the Imperial Fleet. Palpatine was dead, the Empire would now face a collapse in addition to their stunning defeat. The fact the Alliance had pulled off a stunning victory was a miracle in itself and no one could deny the Force was on their side this day.On the edge of the main square, Flight Officer Noash Retrac of Alderaan stood to the side with his friends, Flight Officer Elya Arriphas of Delaya and Corporal Bolan Samoth of Corellia, enjoying the drinks provided to them by the hosts, and was assured by the droid C-3PO that it was harmless to non-Ewoks. Noash liked it, the taste was rather fruity and so far, no effects. He could help but smile.*Pilots talking about what was lost at Endor.
Relationships: Chewbacca & Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker & Han Solo, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa/Han Solo
Series: November 2020 One-Shots [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994803
Kudos: 6





	Celebrations and Sacrifices

The battle was over and now the celebrations were going on.

Their hosts, the Ewoks of the Bright Tree tribe, were quite into it and around them were many rebel soldiers, pilots and officers who travelled down to the Forest Moon of Endor following the destruction of the second Death Star and the retreat of the Imperial Fleet. Palpatine was dead, the Empire would now face a collapse in addition to their stunning defeat. The fact the Alliance had pulled off a stunning victory was a miracle in itself and no one could deny the Force was on their side this day.

On the edge of the main square, Flight Officer Noash Retrac of Alderaan stood to the side with his friends, Flight Officer Elya Arriphas of Delaya and Corporal Bolan Samoth of Corellia, enjoying the drinks provided to them by the hosts, and was assured by the droid C-3PO that it was harmless to non-Ewoks. Noash liked it, the taste was rather fruity and so far, no effects. He could help but smile.

"We had a lot to celebrate tonight," Bolan said. "We killed the Emperor and destroyed the Death Star."

"At a great cost though," Elya replied. "We lost a lot of pilots and quite a few ships."

Noash nodded. "I heard ground forces also took casualties," he paused for another slip. "Particularly the relief squads we were able to land during the battle."

The medic sighed. "Special forces, from what a survivor told me," he took a sip. "Inferno Squad, apparently."

"It was them," Elya replied. "A squad of X-wings and Y-wings from the _Restoration_ got totaled by their TIEs and that Raider before it jumped to lightspeed. Just lucky they never made it to the bunker or General Solo would've been in trouble."

Noash smiled. "The _Corvus_ took a pounding though from the _Chandi_ and _Luminous_ before it got away. Bit humiliating to be damaged by a GR-75 transport."

That led to a small chuckle. Bolan then looked out to the people gathered, his eyes clearly noting Generals Calrissian, Solo and Organa along with Commanders Antilles and Skywalker and the Wookiee Chewbacca as well as the droids Threepio and Artoo. "Who'd we lose?"

"Commanders Crynyd and Fox along with Captain Simm bought it," Elya replied, noting the names of the leaders of Green, Blade and Blue Squadrons. "Crynyd took down the _Executor_ while Fox's fighter got lost after taking too much damage from a TIE interceptor over the _Devastator_."

"Simm died taking out the _Pride of Tarlandia_ with Calrissian and Antilles," Noash continued. "I think we lost at least three other squadron commanders as well, though I can't be too sure. Blue Squadron itself lost four B-wings and one A-wing flown by Tulsa Raleigh."

"Damn, I liked Tulsa, funny guy." Bolan noted, turning. "What about your squadron, Elya?"

"Red fared about the same," she replied. "Sila Kott, Nichos Panib, Grizz Frix, Keir Santage and Roran Tarpar. So one A-wing and four X-wings. Other squadrons got hit badly though."

Noash nodded. "Blade Squadron got reduced to three B-wings, Green and Yellow Squadrons lost half their fighters, Gray Squadron only has five Y-wings, White Squadron lost all four A-wings and all but three B-wings. Other squadrons are either at half strength or in the case of Silver Squadron completely wiped out."

"So much for Snoke Loroan's record," Bolan said. "He was Silver Squadron's third-in-command, right?"

Elya nodded. "Got too close to the bulk cruiser _Urjani_ when the Death Star fired. The rest of the unit got taken out by the _Dominator_ and _Protector_ ," she took a sip of her drink. "Only unit that survived intact was Corona Squadron, which doesn't surprise me. Though they did help take out the _Annihilator_ and damage the _Subjugator_."

Bolan chuckled. "What about ships?"

Noash paused for a thought, then saw Lieutenant Thane Kyrell of Corona Squadron walking away from the square with a drink. He doesn't seem happy about something. "Death Star took out the _Liberty_ , _Nautilian and_ _Urjani_ ," he replied. " _Odysseus_ exploded after colliding with the Star Destroyer _Denunciator_ , the _Tano_ was destroyed disabling the _Pride of Tarlandia_ for Calrissian's attack run while the _Autonomy_ and _Crucible_ lost out in duels to the _Executor_ but knocked out the _Indictor_ and _Visage_."

Elya saddened. "But several Nebulon-Bs, corvettes, gunships, transports and other ships were also lost. I think we lost a third of the entire fleet we brought with us. Other ships are damaged, some likely beyond repair."

"Going to make it harder if we have to fight off again," Bolan noted. "Unless we get lucky and no one comes to fight us again."

Noash chuckled. "The Empire will likely be too busy licking their wounds and dealing with uprisings across the galaxy."

"Really?" their medic friend was surprised. "When did that happen?"

Elya smiled. "About an hour before we got down here, Mon Mothma sent a broadcast across the galaxy from Haven Base. Uprisings are occuring on Naboo, Bespin, Mon Cala, Chandrila, Tatooine and even Coruscant itself."

Noash's smile grew. The Chancellor had retreated to Arbra rather than accompany the fleet to Endor, remaining where General Rieekan was commanding after Echo Base was lost on Hoth last year. She must have been anxious the entire time, hoping and praying to the Force to give them a victory. _The Force works in strange ways_ , the Alderaanian thought. _But I trust in the Heroes of Yavin to bring us out of any crisis_.

A glance noted that Skywalker and Princess Leia had gone to the side with Antilles, who had a puzzled look on his face. Whatever they were talking about clearly confused their friend. Solo and Calrissian were off to the side with Chewbacca and the Sullustan Nien Nunb, clearly enjoying further drinks between them.

Elya's comlink blinked. She pulled it out and smiled when a holographic text message appeared. "Mum and dad have arrived with the auxiliary forces."

Noash and Bolan's comlinks blinked as well. Both pulled them out and noted their own messages. Noash was glad his parents and younger sister were okay, having stayed with the tanker and unarmed repair ships that wouldn't have been much use in a fight with a small squad of old-era fighters and volunteer armed freighters that remained with them than seek victory at Endor.

"Wanna go meet up with them?" Bolan asked.

"You guys go," Noash replied. "I'll catch up later."

Elya smiled. "Okay, see you soon."

As the pair departed, Bolan no doubt exited to see his girlfriend who had stayed with the auxiliary fleet in her old Z-95 Headhunter than fly into the combat zone in orbit, Noash went off in the direction of Thane Kyrell. He soon found the young pilot sitting quietly, his face mared by tears, sipping away at his drink. Noash took a seat next to him.

 _His Imperial girlfriend must've been killed in the battle_ , Noash thought, remembering that Kyrell was in love with an Imperial from his homeworld of Jelucan that hadn't defected to the rebellion like him because of her cultural oath she'd sworn. Unlike most, Noash had understood why, having studied Jelucani culture before he too had defected to the Alliance whilst at the Imperial Academy four years ago.

"Hey, Thane," the Alderaanian greeted him softly. "Want some company?"

The red-haired pilot turned to him and nodded. "Yeah, I could use it right now."

Noash put his cup down. "Wanna tell me about her?" he asked.

The Jelucani X-wing pilot sighed. "It'll take a while to explain."

"We have all night," Noash replied. "And I don't mind hearing about them."

Thane smiled, which brightened his face somewhat. "I didn't want to bother my unit but I suppose it wouldn't harm anyone."

"Let them have the cheers," the B-wing pilot replied. "Let's have the miseries."

"You lost someone today?"

"Several," he replied. "On both sides."

After that, Thane began talking and Noash listened. Soon, Thane's squadmates arrived, having heard the last part of their conversation and taking him away to be there for him as well. Noash went to locate his friends and family. Glad he had at least made the pilot more happier, he looked up to the stars and breathed out.

"One down, several to go," he said to himself. "But at least the galaxy is safe for tonight. Tomorrow, who knows though," he then spotted his parents and younger sister. "At least the Emperor won't be around to do anything to us ever again."

Yeah, victory at Endor, despite the huge cost for the rebellion, would begin a new chapter for galaxy, and Noash wanted to make sure he made it out alive.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, the Battle of Endor. You'd actually be amazed what little data has ever been released on the battle despite how big and decisive it was in both Canon and Legends about it. Still, we do our best to understand it and then hope the information is correct. Maybe one day (2023?), we'll get more about it. Looking at you, Jason Fry, Dave Filoni, Michael A. Stackpole, Timothy Zahn.
> 
> So, again, I use OCs to be the main POV for this because I felt it would fit. These three participated in the battle and each have their own perspectives. "Noash Retrac" is essentially me, my real first name more or less backwards and my surname just backwards. "Elya Arriphas" and "Bolan Samoth" are just two of my close friends names more or less Sci-Fi'd. Noash Retrac may or may not be related to Winter Celchu, who's mother was Sheltay Retrac (Bail Organa's aide in ROTS) while Elya's homeworld is Alderaan's sister world of Delaya. Bolan wasn't part of the Endor strike team but came down during the battle as reinforcements, which I headcanon happening to help explain why Inferno Squad had a sizable kill rate in the game.
> 
> Most of the information from Endor comes from the film, the novelisation, the original Star Wars Guide to the Universe book, several Legends novels, one Canon novel (Lost Stars by Claudia Gray - one of the best novels as far as I'm concerned alongside the new Thrawn books and A New Dawn), the canon short story Blade Squadron, Wookieepedia and the Essential Guide to Warfare. Yes, I am that crazy and love fleet junkie stuff.
> 
> Anyway, review and kudos. Tell me who you think was also at Endor in some form, what ships and which pilot you got. In fact, tell me about your stories relating to one of my to four favourite battles in Star Wars (the others being Geonosis in AOTC, Scarif in RO and (don't shoot me) Exegol in TROS. See you again soon :)


End file.
